


Colors of the Sea

by tsukumin



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Blind!Luffy, Luffy learns about colors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27260098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsukumin/pseuds/tsukumin
Summary: Color is a concept that Luffy can't wrap his head around, no matter how hard he tries because his whole world is composed of nothing but darkness. Luffy doesn't need colors to know when Makino is happy and when food is ready or what the weather is like.In Luffy's humble opinion, there's just no need for colors.
Relationships: Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Monkey D. Luffy
Comments: 16
Kudos: 138





	Colors of the Sea

Luffy can't see, but he can hear and feel and taste and smell, and that's enough for him.

Color is a concept that Luffy can't wrap his head around, no matter how hard he tries because his whole world is composed of nothing but darkness. Luffy doesn't need colors to know when Makino is happy and when food is ready or what the weather is like.

His other senses make up for his lack of sight, so he doesn't understand why everyone makes a big deal about colors.

In Luffy's humble opinion, there's just no need for colors. 

Luffy thinks he's way better off than people who _can_ see because often people with the ability to see are the ones who lose sight of what the world has to offer. 

The wind tells him the world's secrets and guides towards adventure through breezy laughs and gentle whispers. It carries scents and snippets of conversations from across the island and occasionally from far beyond. 

Luffy always knows when there's an approaching storm or if the fishermen manage to catch a lot of fish.

He knows when Garp is coming because the wind carries his gramp's booming laughter along with the salty tang of the sea. The wind also lets him know when Makino is cooking meat so that he can dash back to Party's Bar and scramble up the special stool Makino has reserved for him.

Mother nature supervises him when he goes out to wander and play. Luffy likes to run around barefoot through the soft, lush grass and the dirt roads to feel the happy tremors of the earth as she shares his joy of being alive. 

She laughs with him and plays with him, and encourages him to explore her endless treasures. There's always sweet-smelling fruits to pick and fluffy little critters to pet (or eat, because MEAT!). 

The beach is, by far, Luffy's favorite place to be. Fine, velvety sand radiating heat absorbed over the day warms his feet as he pads along the coast. He can hear the seagulls' raucous laughter and the soothing gurgle as the waves recede into the sea. Can feels how the water, delightfully cold, nips at his toes when he strays too close. 

Shells litter the beach, every one of them carrying a song or a story waiting to be heard. Luffy gives them all the attention they deserve when he finds one, eager to listen to their fantastical tales and precious memories. He treats them with absolute care no matter how cracked or dirty, and in turn, the shells reward him with stories.

When the weather is pleasant, the waters are calm. Luffy loves to splash around in the shallows and feel wet sand sifting between his toes. While Luffy can't swim, he's able to stay afloat effortlessly. 

Floating is the _absolute best_. 

The sea embraces him when he drifts aimlessly, enveloping Luffy in a blanket of unconditional love. It's in the water that he feels most at home, soaking in the warmth of the sun and eavesdropping on the creatures that live amongst the waves. 

Makino frets that one day Luffy will get swept away by a strong current, but Luffy knows the ocean will never do that to him. He firmly believes that the sea will never lead him astray.

Luffy loves the ocean with all his heart, and the ocean loves him back.

Dawn Island is his playground, the elements are his guides, and it just doesn't get better than that.

So yeah, Luffy would say that he's doing perfectly fine with these things called colors.

***

Garp tries his best to teach Luffy and, in the process, utilizes various questionable methods ranging from bribing to Fists of Love. Their sessions end up with Luffy wandering off. This, in turn, somehow always leads to one of Garp's grueling training regimens. Although Luffy hasn't made any progress with colors, Garp is proud to say that Luffy seems to have an exceptional talent for observation haki.

He reasons that Luffy'll make a fantastic marine, colors or not. After all, Fujitora is blind too, and he's an exceptional marine _._

Luffy doesn't seem to like the idea too much, but _eh,_ the kid'll come around sooner or later when he sees how amazing his grandpa is.

Mayor Woop Slap tries too. But in all honesty, Woop Slap had long given up on trying to teach Luffy colors. His weekly lessons with Luffy were more to keep the little ruffian out of trouble. It's honestly a miracle in itself that Luffy is willing to sit and listen. However, Woop Slap suspects it's because Luffy can smell the little taffies ( _Luffy can_ ) hidden in his pockets. At the end of their time together, Woop Slap gives Luffy sweets with a fondly exasperated sigh and watches as the child bounces off to play.

Makino also does her best but to no avail. 

She tells Luffy that the earth is brown and the grass is green and that the clouds are white. Luffy nods along even though he doesn't understand and dutifully repeats it back since it makes Makino happy. 

He likes it when she's happy. Makino's cheerfulness is infectious, her bubbly laughter refreshing like a cool breeze on a hot summer day. 

He doesn't care about colors. 

Makino sees enough colors for both of them anyway.

***

It's been a while since they've been on land, and they're starting to run low on supplies. While Shanks likes sailing on the Red Force and getting challenged every other week by pirates aiming to take his spot, he's getting a little tired of it. 

When Shanks decides upon Foosha village, a quaint little place in the East Blue, he's not expecting much. He's already been on plenty of adventure, discovered his fair share of treasures, has drunk his weight in booze, and he carries the unofficial title of Party Emperor proudly despite Benn's unimpressed stares. 

After all, what's life without parties?

 _Boring_ , that's what, so Benn can take his unimpressed looks and stick it. 

Anyways, Shanks just wants some quiet and some good liquor.

The Red-Haired Pirates dock without much trouble, save for a small confrontation with the mayor. He reassures the man with the cane that _no, we're not looking for trouble,_ and _yes, we just want to restock and maybe visit a bar or two._

The mayor doesn't look too happy, given the way he's grumbling under his breath about criminals. 

In the end, the mayor's choice doesn't matter because a young child wearing a shirt emblazoned with the word 'anchor' barrels past the man and slams straight into Shanks' legs with a cheerful _hi!_

Shanks looks down to see a mop of unruly black hair and a blinding grin. Before he could even say a word, the boy was clambering up Shanks like he was a tree. Worried that kid would fall, Shanks shifts his arms so that he was awkwardly supporting him and watched as his actions caused the grin to stretch even wider.

In all his life, Shanks doesn't ever remember a kid greeting him so enthusiastically. Heck, he doesn't even remember the last time he interacted with a child. He's seen children passing when he landed in port towns and remote villages, but none of them had ever gone up to him. Most people gave him and his crew a wide berth, and while Shanks understands where they're coming from, it does get lonely sometimes, y'know?

He's snapped out of his thoughts when two small hands squish his cheeks. The child — _Anchor_ , his mind supplies unhelpfully— is gazing at him intently, albeit a little higher than his eyes. Despite that, Shanks feels like the kid is peering into his soul.

Anchor rests his forehead against Shanks' with his eyes closed and brows furrowed, and time just seems to stop. The mayor's frantic cries of _Luffy get off him!_ and his crewmates snickers fade out. 

Here, at this moment, Shanks and Anchor are alone in the world.

Shanks will look back on this moment in the future with the realization that _this_ was when the gears of fate began to turn.

The spell is broken when the child laughs a funny little _shi shi shi_. Whatever the ravenette was looking for in Shanks, he must've found it because the little pipsqueak nods decisively before struggling out of Shanks hold and falling face flat on the floor.

Without missing a beat, the child springs up from the ground with another cheerful giggle.

It takes anchor-boy a few seconds to orient himself.

With a strangely solemn look on his face, the boy points to a spot a little to the left of Shanks and says, "You smell like the sea."

Then after a slight pause and a cute nose scrunch, the child follows up with "And Makino's dirty dishrag."

And with that final verdict, the child bounces away to inspect someone else.

"Luffy!" the mayor shouts after the boy, expression torn between exasperation and resignation. "Not again!"

Shanks doesn't know whether he wants to laugh or cry, so he settles for a wheeze that borders on hysterical.

He's going to have some words with his crew later. 

They're definitely laughing too damn hard after their captain, _who smells fucking fantastic, thank you very much_ , has suffered such a grave insult.

Despite their interesting first meeting, Luffy and Shanks get along swimmingly well. 

Luffy follows Shanks around like a little duckling, chattering a mile a minute about all sorts of random things. A majority of the time, it goes through one ear and out the other. Shanks tries hard to listen; he really does, but children aren't the best conversationalists out there, and Luffy switches topics so quickly that trying to follow along requires more effort than it's worth.

So Shanks does what he sees the rest of the villagers do when interacting with Luffy; he nods along and makes vague sounding noises every so often.

The six-year-old has also endeared himself to the rest of Shanks' crew and could often be found begging for stories or attention or meat when they're all gathered in Party's Bar. Luffy is a force to be reckoned with his sunshine grin and infectious laughter.

No one on the crew will admit it, but they're all wrapped around Luffy's little finger. 

Who can say no to that adorable pout? _Absolutely freaking no one._

***

It takes Shanks an embarrassingly long time to figure out that Luffy is blind, and it's only because he overhears Woop Slap and Makino lamenting Luffy's recklessness when he can't even see.

"Luffy's blind?" Shanks screeches, startling both Makino and Woop Slap. 

"You didn't know?" Makino and Woop Slap chorus. 

And now thinking back, Shanks realizes that there were a lot of obvious signs, like how Luffy crashed into things that were clearly in front of him or how Luffy never quite managed to look someone in the eyes or the way Luffy seemed a little lost when the crew was particularly rowdy, everyone yelling and shouting over each other.

Shanks leaves the bar that day with plenty of stories about Luffy's antics, feeling awed. 

When he tells Benn, his first mate just gives him a smug smirk and says _I know._

***

"Hey, Shanks, what are colors?" Asks Luffy one day as they're spending time together on the beach. Luffy is sprawled lazily on the sand while Shanks sits beside him. "Makino says that colors are in- import- impotent for people who can see."

"Important." Shanks corrects. He rubs his hand on his chin thoughtfully, trying to think of a way to explain. "Well, yeah. We use colors to tell things apart. Colors can also be used to represent ideas and feelings."

"Mm." Luffy hums, fingers absentmindedly drawing in the sand. "I don't get it at all."

"Anchor—"

"M'not called Anchor!" Luffy huffs.

Shanks guffaws loudly, and Luffy's indignant pout deepens.

"Sorry, sorry." Shanks placates. He reaches over to ruffle Luffy's hair, and the boy grumbles. "Here, give me your hand, and I'll show you."

At that, Luffy perks up, pout vanishing in an instant. 

"Really?" The ravenette questions, excitement lacing his voice. "Really, really?"

Shanks laughs again. "Yes. Really."

With a beaming smile, Luffy scrambles up, nearly slipping on the sand in his haste, and sticks his hand out. 

Shanks takes it and leads Luffy into the water. He stops when the water is a little lower than the waist-level for Luffy.

"The sea?" Luffy asked, confusion written all over his face. "What does the sea have to with it?"

"Blue," Shanks explains patiently. "Is the color of the sea and the sky. Blue is the feeling of cool waves lapping at your feet, the smell of salt carried by the breeze, and the call of adventure. For pirates like me, blue is freedom; freedom to live as we like and do as we please and not give a flying fu- frick about what other people think."

"Blue..." Luffy mumbles reverently, trailing his free hand around in the water. He falls silent, and Shanks watches as Luffy lets the information soak in. "The sea is blue?"

"Mhmm." Confirms Shanks. "The sea is blue." 

Shanks doesn't think he'll ever forget the look of pure wonder on Luffy's face.

***

"I want to be free too," Luffy says in a rare moment of seriousness as he's seeing Shanks off. "I'm going to be the freest person in the world, and there'll be nothing that can hold me back."

Shanks doesn't doubt that at all. 

In the time they've spent together, Luffy has shown himself to be eerily in tune with the elements and possessing the uncanny ability to bend the world to his will. If Luffy sets his mind to something, nothing in the world would be able to stand in his way. 

The little boy in front of him is going to take the world by storm. He can feel it in his bones.

Shanks feels an indescribable wave of emotion crash through him. He's so _lucky_ to be alive, blessed to have been given a chance to sail the seas with the Pirate King Gol D. Roger himself. And now fate has guided him to the one who'll set the world ablaze, the ruler of the new age, the bearer of the crown.

"This is my gift to you, my little Pirate King." Shanks takes off his beloved straw hat and places it firmly on top of Luffy's head. "It's dear to me, so take good care of it, y'hear?"

Luffy nods, eyes brimming with unshed tears.

Shanks kneels down in front of Luffy and gently rests his forehead against the ravenette's, similar to the way they first met, and whispers, "Remember, blue is the color of freedom."

There's no response save for a muffled sob, but Shanks knows that Luffy understands.

The winds shift, and it's time to go. He gives the kid one last hug and wipes away the tears. 

"Come find me again when you become a great pirate. I'll be waiting for you."

"Promise?" is the sniffled response.

_"Promise."_

Hat clutched tightly in his hand, Luffy stands at the dock and listens to the sound of the Red force being carried away until he can hear it no longer.

Luffy is blind, and he'll never see colors, but Shanks managed to teach him the most important color of all.

Blue is the color that changes his life.

Blue is the color of the sea and the skies, and most importantly, blue is the color of _freedom_.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a mini heads up, I'm not going to give Luffy a devil fruit because I'll feel too sad depriving Luffy of the ocean when he can't see it ;~; There might be some other minor changes along the way, so I'll let you all know in the future :))))
> 
> Please leave comments and let me know what you think! I love hearing from everyone hehehe :))) Constructive criticism is always welcome too!
> 
> P.S: For anyone that's read my Yellow Acacias story, I PROMISE THAT I WILL FINISH IT and I'M SO SORRY. I'm just a slow writer and it takes me forever to find inspiration so I hope you guys understand T^T


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